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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
AGREED to consider and comment on the proposed changes to the Constitution as set out in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of the report.
AGREED to note and comment on the contents of the report, and noted the activity report for April 2024 – September 2024.
AGREED to approve the proposed taxi licensing fees for consultation and indicated that a reduction in the licence fee in respect of wheelchair accessible vehicles and / or electric vehicles should continue at £80 per new vehicle licence application and £70 per renewal application.
AGREED that in the exceptional circumstances, where no Council-approved garage exists to issue certificates of compliance to hackney carriages and private hire vehicles, to extend the temporary deviation from the Council’s Policy for 12 months or until a long-term solution is in place, whichever is sooner, by allowing the submission of a standard M.O.T. certificate issued by a DVSA approved garage in place of a certificate of compliance in the following circumstances: 1. With an application to license a new or replacement vehicle that is older than one year, provided that the M.O.T. certificate was issued in the month prior to the application for the licence being submitted to the Council, and then subsequently no later than the expiry date of the M.O.T. certificate; 2. Prior to the first anniversary of the date of first registration of any licensed vehicle that is less than one year old, and then subsequently no later than the expiry date of the M.O.T. certificate; 3. No later than the expiry date of any M.O.T. certificate issued in respect of a licensed vehicle; and 4. Prior to a licence being reinstated after it has been suspended due to concerns about its fitness or the vehicle becoming temporarily unlicensed due to involvement in an accident, where the M.O.T. certificate must have been issued after the date of the suspension or accident, as applicable. The Committee also AGREED for a new tendering process to be carried out in the new year but for the tendering process to be extended to include garages outside of Torfaen and if no suitable garage is approved following that process that Officers seek views of licence holders and members of the public and feedback to the Committee at a future meeting about: i) Changing the Council’s Policy on the Administration and Regulation of Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licences to allow M.O.T. test certificates in place of certificates of compliance, ii) The frequency of M.O.T. testing of licensed vehicles, and iii) Officer inspections of all licensed vehicles being carried out prior to a licence being issued or renewed.
1.1 The Chair welcomed Members and Officers to the meeting of the General Licensing Committee. 1.2 Apologies were received from Councillors Liam Cowles, Norma Parrish and David Thomas.
2.1 Councillor Evans declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest as a DVSA tester. 2.2 No other interests were declared.
3.1 The minutes were confirmed as a true and accurate record.
Decision as recorded
AGREED to consider and comment on the proposed changes to the Constitution as set out in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of the report.
4.1 The PS presented her report whilst sharing her screen. There were no questions that followed. 4.2 The Committee AGREED to consider and comment on the proposed changes to the Constitution as set out in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of the report.
Decision as recorded
AGREED to note and comment on the contents of the report, and noted the activity report for April 2024 – September 2024.
5.1 The TML&TS shared her screen and presented the report. Following, she responded to Members’ questions as follows: • Complaints had been received that there were not enough wheelchair accessible taxi vehicles in the fleet within Torfaen, and the ones that were available were tied into contracts with schools and Social Services. There were no guidelines around how many disabled vehicles should be in operation but there were about 10% of them in the fleet, which equated to around 14 vehicles. They were working with the trade around how they could encourage people to purchase them, but they came at an expense. Officers were also talking to forums in order to better understand the problem and to get ideas around how to overcome them. • Due to a reduction in staff they were dealing with complaints on a case by case, priority basis. The team had to lower their response to complaints from three days to five, but were hoping that they could revert when the recruitment process had finished in January. • Members were encouraged to report any issues to the team, giving them as much information as possible, including registration plates so that they could make contact with the owners. All complaints were dealt with appropriately. Officers from other departments when out and about around the borough inform the team about any issues. • In relation to wheelchair accessible vehicles, the team had not reached a solution yet, but were talking to the trade and meeting with a wheelchair users forum in January to understand what they were experiencing. The situation could be resolved by adjusting the policy but they were in the initial stages. They were very open to comments and thoughts about how to alleviate the problem. The Committee would be updated at the next meeting. 5.2 The Committee AGREED to note and comment on the contents of the report, and noted the activity report for April 2024 – September 2024.
Decision as recorded
AGREED to approve the proposed taxi licensing fees for consultation and indicated that a reduction in the licence fee in respect of wheelchair accessible vehicles and / or electric vehicles should continue at £80 per new vehicle licence application and £70 per renewal application.
6.1 The TML&TS presented the report whilst sharing her screen. She responded to Members’ questions as follows: • No reduction in fees were offered for hybrid vehicles; it was only to those with a fully electric vehicle. • There were a number of reasons why Torfaen’s fees were higher in comparison to other local authorities. Part of this was that the fees were part of a calculation which took into account the hourly cost for an Officer, which could vary. The fee evaluation process was quite extensive in order for it to be fairly set and to ensure the costs for processing the licence was covered. 6.2 The Committee AGREED to approve the proposed taxi licensing fees for consultation and indicated that a reduction in the licence fee in respect of wheelchair accessible vehicles and / or electric vehicles should continue at £80 per new vehicle licence application and £70 per renewal application.
Decision as recorded
AGREED that in the exceptional circumstances, where no Council-approved garage exists to issue certificates of compliance to hackney carriages and private hire vehicles, to extend the temporary deviation from the Council’s Policy for 12 months or until a long-term solution is in place, whichever is sooner, by allowing the submission of a standard M.O.T. certificate issued by a DVSA approved garage in place of a certificate of compliance in the following circumstances: 1. With an application to license a new or replacement vehicle that is older than one year, provided that the M.O.T. certificate was issued in the month prior to the application for the licence being submitted to the Council, and then subsequently no later than the expiry date of the M.O.T. certificate; 2. Prior to the first anniversary of the date of first registration of any licensed vehicle that is less than one year old, and then subsequently no later than the expiry date of the M.O.T. certificate; 3. No later than the expiry date of any M.O.T. certificate issued in respect of a licensed vehicle; and 4. Prior to a licence being reinstated after it has been suspended due to concerns about its fitness or the vehicle becoming temporarily unlicensed due to involvement in an accident, where the M.O.T. certificate must have been issued after the date of the suspension or accident, as applicable. The Committee also AGREED for a new tendering process to be carried out in the new year but for the tendering process to be extended to include garages outside of Torfaen and if no suitable garage is approved following that process that Officers seek views of licence holders and members of the public and feedback to the Committee at a future meeting about: i) Changing the Council’s Policy on the Administration and Regulation of Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licences to allow M.O.T. test certificates in place of certificates of compliance, ii) The frequency of M.O.T. testing of licensed vehicles, and iii) Officer inspections of all licensed vehicles being carried out prior to a licence being issued or renewed.
7.1 The SLO presented his report to the Committee and following, responded to Members’ questions as follows: • Vehicle testing outside of the borough could be explored if the Committee wanted the procurement process to look further afield. Officers visited garages frequently, possibly two to three times a week, and so travelling would need to be considered. The pre-requisites could change so that higher scoring could be given to those within Torfaen. • The last procurement process took place in 2022 where they receive one bid which was successful. However, this arrangement ended in February. The procurement process had to be completed again and they received two bids, neither of which were successful. They were unsure of what response they would get to another but they would write to the taxi trade again to make sure they were aware. • Some requirements could be negotiated over but other aspects could not be deviated from, like having to be a DVSA tester and in relation to the services they provide, such as toilet facilities. Some items were not mandatory and so these were scored against during the tendering exercise. They could direct potential bidders to the DVSA in order for them to explore higher testing, but they could not do anything further to assist. • There was an essential criteria that testers had to meet and everything else was open to discussion. They could look at their scoring methods and favour those from inside the borough. The procurement was performed under guidance from the Procurement Team and so they would need to seek advice. • Feedback was not sought after letters for potential bidders were sent out, so they did not know why people were not applying. However, this could be looked into by asking for expressions of interest. Officers would speak to the Procurement Team to seek the best way forward. 7.2 The Committee AGREED that in the exceptional circumstances, where no Council-approved garage exists to issue certificates of compliance to hackney carriages and private hire vehicles, to extend the temporary deviation from the Council’s Policy for 12 months or until a long-term solution is in place, whichever is sooner, by allowing the submission of a standard M.O.T. certificate issued by a DVSA approved garage in place of a certificate of compliance in the following circumstances: 1. With an application to license a new or replacement vehicle that is older than one year, provided that the M.O.T. certificate was issued in the month prior to the application for the licence being submitted to the Council, and then subsequently no later than the expiry date of the M.O.T. certificate; 2. Prior to the first anniversary of the date of first registration of any licensed vehicle that is less than one year old, and then subsequently no later than the expiry date of the M.O.T. certificate; 3. No later than the expiry date of any M.O.T. certificate issued in respect of a licensed vehicle; and 4. Prior to a licence being reinstated after it has been suspended due to concerns about its fitness or the vehicle becoming temporarily unlicensed due to involvement in an accident, where the M.O.T. certificate must have been issued after the date of the suspension or accident, as applicable. The Committee also AGREED for a new tendering process to be carried out in the new year but for the tendering process to be extended to include garages outside of Torfaen and if no suitable garage is approved following that process that Officers seek views of licence holders and members of the public and feedback to the Committee at a future meeting about: i) Changing the Council’s Policy on the Administration and Regulation of Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licences to allow M.O.T. test certificates in place of certificates of compliance, ii) The frequency of M.O.T. testing of licensed vehicles, and iii) Officer inspections of all licensed vehicles being carried out prior to a licence being issued or renewed.
8.1 The date of the next meeting was confirmed to take place on 20 February 2025. 8.2 The meeting ended at 10.45am.
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